VFW: The Longest Day

It was the longest day of the year, but the trivia contest flew by. Chicks and Dicks had their last shot at "King of Queens" trivia, but they had an off night. The B52s took fifth and chose "cars" as their theme. Tom of Nix Lix faced Sheila of the cleverly-named M and S team for the first time in the Captain Jack tie-breaker and got chomped twice quickly. He chose "fishing lures" as his theme. D and M + 2 took second and the whiz kids of Room 2 only missed half of one question in the fourth round. Alice in Wonderland's name change to Alice in Wonderlust didn't help. Lexie of the Posse made a rare appearance. And Ron will never let his teammates forget that he was right about Playdough.

Bube's: We Miss Tabitha Already!

It was a night of transitions as we had some staffing changes at Bube's. Our new man behind the bar is Mike (which should be easy for me to remember), backed up by Shannon, who is experiencing life on the other side. We also welcomed Derrick as our host and had music trivia host Kerry as a player. (Don't forget that Kerry's Wednesday music trivia show is on hiatus for the month of June, but will return in July).

Sadly, tonight was Tabby's last night as a trivia server, since she is all packed up and ready to move to Florida. We will truly miss her warm friendliness and excellent service! Tabby stayed afterwards and shared some Bube's stories.

On the action front, the Tesla Death Rays, abetted by some guest visitors, took first place. The Fool Monkey Is Pleased to Announce That He, Too, Will Not Be Indicted did one of their patented comebacks and placed second (Charles is now an official Voltron fan). The Vernal Equinutsacks led most of the night, but stumbled a bit in the last round and took third. Team Discovery Channel were not in their usual front room spot, but still managed fourth place. They chose the TV show "Scrubs" as their theme for next week. Not Worth Cheating Off Of, led by the superb guessing of Paul took fifth and chose "choral music" as their theme (courtesy of songbird Jordan).

Laura attempts to cement her head to Tabby to prevent her from leaving.

Joe, Joanne and Nick welcome their newest member, Sebastian to "The Vernal Equinutsacks." (Alternate photo caption: The Nutsacks got crabs)

And, speaking of crabs... Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the newly-renamed team "The Crabby Dicks Found Some New Sweaty Balls." (Tracie, who named the team, was in the loo at the time of this pic).

Eat It Raw shares a tender moment.

Trashbag winners were treated to a complimentary piece of unwashed cilantro tonight.

These are the people who chose "Choral Music" as a theme. Memorize their faces.

Bad blogger, bad, bad blogger!

It's time for my semi-monthly "I've been a bad blogger" post apologizing for lack of this week's commentary.

For those of you who come here looking for themes, this week are:

Bube's - college team nicknames and Voltron.
VFW - the Civil War and the King of Queens (which is officially being retired as a theme after this week)

Annual Newcomm picnic

The gang at Newcomm had me back for the third time for their annual company picnic north of Lititz. This year the picknickers were in for a real treat, since the event was catered by Tim Carr, the owner of Carr's Restaurant. We feasted on prime rib and crab cakes and chocolate-dipped strawberries (when I worked at TV Guide we would be lucky to get anchovy pizzas) before we settled down to some serious trivia. The rankings see-sawed between the five teams, but it was Chloe's Crew (pictured) that took this year's crown. Thanks to all for having me, and see you next year!)

Lancaster Relay for Life Raises One Million Dollars!

This year our goal for Lancaster's Relay for Life was one million dollars in donations raised. Early Saturday morning it looked like an impossible dream, but then more and more moolah came in. At the end, the total was over one million, 27 thousand bucks! Congratulations to all who participated!

For the second year in a row I hosted a trivia contest at the Relay. Once again we had to jumpstart our brains, since it was held at 7:30 a.m. (yes, that's a.m., not p.m.). 16 teams cleared the cobwebs from their minds and played. Kelly's team "Combing for a Cure," must have been the most caffeinated, since they became the 2006 trivia champions by beating Fulton Bank Penn Square by one measly point! They won some very nice Relay paraphenalia, provided by the American Cancer Society, including Jordan's nifty umbrella.

Here we see last year's defending champions, Fulton Bank Penn Square. They were disappointed that they didn't repeat, but had a fine time, nonetheless. The Comet Coasters took third, Roaring for a Cure fourth, Skittles fifth, and Anita Cure sixth. Thanks to all the early players and to Entertainment Chair Daryl Bloom for having me back.

VFW: New Start Time Next Week

Important News! Starting next week, June 14th, the VFW show will start at 8 P.M. It will remain at 8 P.M. until the late fall (when the clocks change). We now return you to your regular blog...


Thanks again to Chris Ivey for subbing at the VFW last week, despite his nagging cough. As I announced at the show Chris later had to have an emergency appendectomy. After a couple of days in the hospital, he is now recuperating at home. so our thoughts and prayers go out to him for a speedy recovery (besides, he still owes me a sub day at Bube's!).

Tonight was the first night for the VFW Kitchen to meet the trivia show. It was also Joy and Tiffany's first night as raffle coordinators. They even played along for the first time. All in the Family stayed long enough to claim some Trashbag of Deelite prizes. The Posse took fifth and chose Hogan's Heroes as their theme. Dennis and Melanie took fourth and chose American horse breeds as their theme. Then it was The Snicker Bars, Chicks and Dicks and Room 2, in that order.

Look out, Laura! The Birthday Monster is sneaking up on you!

Bube's: A Plott a-brewing

Here'a pic of the Plott team (minus their smartest member), who took Bube's by storm on the night of the Beast, 6/6/06. In honor of that date. most of the questions had a devilish theme, causing questioning looks on latecomers. In fact, The Two Bubes Brews Blues crew got a Satan bobblehead (see pic below).

The Nutsacks finally came up with a name that had me squirming in my seat. They took fifth and chose the real names of rappers as their theme. Shari faced birthday girl Laura, since their teams had tied for third. The Rays ended up in fourth, with David Bowie as their theme. The Olives took third, the Monkey second and the aforementioned Plott first.

Devil Dog, Hound of Hell.

Two Bubes Brews Blues, Part Dieux

Brendee's: New Kid in Town

Earth Trivia has officially branched out to a new location: Brendee's Tavern, on the corner of Lemon and Mary Streets on Lancaster's northwest side. And we have a brand new host: J! You might recall J from such films as "Dial J for Jiggyness," "A Keg Too Far," or his most recent role as Rocky in York Little Theater's production of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." (Janet! Brad! Dr. Scott! J! >grunt!<)

(Okay, enough pop references...)

J is best remembered as the bar manager at Bubes, where he artfully tended Tuesday nights since the last millennium. He's been through the gregarious grace of Curtis Earth, the bouncing bubbliness of Michelle Moon, the sardonic stylings of Chris Ivey and the minimalist musings of me. So he knows his way around the trivial path. Now he's ready to come from behind the bar and twist your brains (in a good way).
The Brendees format will be different from other Earth Trivia shows. There will be two shows on Wednesday nights, one at 8 and another at 9. A $25 Brendees gift card will be awarded to the winning teams of each show. I've eaten at Brendees (it's close to where I work) and the food is excellent. Steve the owner used to be a chef at the Holiday Inn years ago when Curtis started this whole shebang (or, should I say personbang? - probably not)

Prizes for second and third place to be determined, but J has an active imagination, so beware!

So, hopefully some of you can make it out to J's inaugural show this Wednesday (June 7th) at Brendee's to welcome him into the trivia family!

Trivia at Relay for Life

Please consider supporting the Relay for Life. We're all gearing up for this year's event. Once again I'll be participating in the Lancaster Relay, to be held this weekend from Fri. 6 P.M. to Sat. 6 P.M. at Catholic High's football field. I'll be hosting a trivia show at 7:30 A.M. on Saturday, in case you're up that early (it will probably feature some classic questions). Or you may come to the kickoff at 6 P.M. which features an inspiring Survivors' Lap, where you can see the many, many people who have kicked or are surviving the ravaging disease known as cancer. We are attempting to raise one million dollars this year, so every donation helps!